I Love My Warmoth But....

[mullyman]

I have a Fender USA Eric Clapton model that sits in it's case probably 3/4 of the year. My main guitar is my white Warmoth Strat. Today I pulled the Clapton out to put some fresh stings on it. Every time I get it out I am reminded that Fender does in fact make a damn good product. I won't be getting rid of my Warmoth anytime soon but this Fender sure does play nice.
MULLY

 

[SustainerPlayer]

Guitars are just great. I also love my Ibanez(*2) - my Hamer - even my 12 string Agile.

Yeah - even those I can't remember right now!  :guitarplayer2:

 

[dmraco]

As an owner of WAY TOO MANY guitars....I love each one.  The thought of getting ride of just one would leave a void.

 

[Perry Combover]

I didn't build my two Warmoths because I thought I could do it better than Fender, I did it because I wanted the experience of building my own and I didn't want to pay Fender the $4000 that the custom shop would have asked for.  So I have a very nice Tele and Jazzmaster that I put together, but my American Deluxe Strat is just too good to ever put down for good.  I will put that one up against anything.

 

[tangent]

Agreed, Fender USA products are very nice for the money, but even on their custom shop models they don't offer raw necks.. so that kind of limits their maximum awesomeness level in my opinion =)

 

[stubhead]

A wise guy once said the only guitar you really need is the one you're playing right now. Of course, he had 60 guitars so we're still safe.

 

[bagman67]

My Martin is my go-to.  I like my electrics, of which there are now two complete Warmoths, a half-'Moth, and my Peavey frankenstratclone (a Predator with Carvin bits and bobs) - but I don't have a bond with any of them like I have with the dreadnought.

 

[telecutie]

Me too Bagman... nothing rings like my D-18.

 

[ihavenothingprofoundtosay]

Fender USA products are very nice for the money

You're going to find a LOT of folks disagreeing with you over those last 3 words.  I would say I've never played a genuine Fender that was straight up terrible, and many have been quite good quality. But Fender charges a ridiculous premium on their brand name.  They're part of music history, and they've without a doubt made instruments of truly legendary quality.  And they're priced accordingly.  :-\ Saying that you're getting a good value for your money with a Fender is a stretch, especially with their "custom shop" guitars. Well crafted, yes, but mostly the same domestic hardwoods on factory models, next to no options, and far more than the cost of an equivalent Warmoth parts caster.  Even one assembled by a luthier charging by the hour.  That's to say nothing of equivalent strat & tele-esque models from less famous builders which sell for far less. Heck, you could build a Warmoth partscaster for less than what a USA Fender would cost!

Just about everytime I pick up a Fender at a music store, I think "this is a nice instrument, but what a ripoff."

More on topic: I still cherish the Carvin kit bass I built over a decade ago, but I can already tell it's going to be neglected when I finish my warmoth-necked headless beast.  And no guitar neck has come close to the comfort in my hand of my super-wide fatback Firebird neck.  :headbang1:

 

[DavyDave53]

You're going to find a LOT of folks disagreeing with you over those last 3 words.
[/quote]

Yup, your are right about that.

The quality of the Mexican Fenders is bad, really bad.  The American Fenders are grossly overpriced and the Custom Shop ones are insane.  The chances of me buying a Fender are zero.  Which are the same odds of me buying a Gibson.

But hey, you earned it.  It's your money!

 

[Cagey]

That's pretty much the way I look at them. Nice enough guitars, but not a good value. Kinda like buying designer clothing. Calvin Klein jeans are nice enough, but they're not $100 nicer than Levis.

 

[AutoBat]

The remaining bits on my halfmoth are MIM Fender.  They're excellent quality.

What's left you say? Body, paint, claw & springs, strap buttons, output jack, rear cover.  That's all.

 

[mrpinter]

Like Mulllyman, I have a store bought guitar that I really like - when pressed, I'd have to say I like it as much as my two Warmoth builds, and I just love those. Mine is not a Fender, however - it's a 1992 Hamer T-62 (pictured below). I'd put it up against any Fender custom shop axe any day of the week. It truly is a custom guitar that happened to have been sold in a music store. In this case Make'n Music's west coast store in North Hollywood - long since gone. I paid about the same for that guitar as I did for each of my Warmoth tele builds (thanks to a hefty discount because it had been in stock too long, imagine that!). I consider the Hamer AND my Warmoths to be easily worth twice what I paid for them.

The fact that I hold the Hamer in as high regard as the Warmoths is certainly not a knock on Warmoth, because that Hamer is about the easiest playing, most ergonomically sexy guitar I've ever experienced. It balances on a strap perfectly and almost plays itself. It's appointments are impressive: Seymour Duncan vintage pickups, powered and EQ'd lead boost built in - with about a 9 db boost that's just enough to kick an amp on the edge of breakup into tube overdrive (it's like kicking in an OD pedal); Sperzel locking staggered tuners; a gorgeous perfectly shaped neck made of some of the nicest birdseye maple I've seen on a "store guitar"; a Pau Ferro fingerboard; and paint that's flawless. The wonder of it is I like my Warmoths about as much as that Hamer.

 

[mullyman]

FWIW, I found my Clapton Strat in a music store, used, and got it with a 30w Line6 Spider amp for 800 bucks. I couldn't pass that up.
MULLY

 

[stubhead]

Well, it's like they say - guitars are pretty cool. And nowadays, any good amp should have to capacity to be way too bassy, or way too trebly. So if a particular guitar is lacking something somewhere, you can git it somewhere else, for sure. It's kind of comical to read the magazines when they're talking about certain "classic" performances - god old Danelectros sucked. I mean, if you closed your eyes and listened to this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrvfMSYNqBg

You might think it was buzzy, noisy, really out of tune, self-indulgent etc. - but it was Jimmy Page teaching us that that was the way rock should be. I mean, ever since Mitt Romney and Bain Capital bought Harmony Central and turned the writing into the equivalent of gay porn underpants endorsements, I've been a little worried about rock music. I mean:

Educating, entertaining, and empowering the World's largest online community of musicians.
- Team Harmony Central's Mission

Yikes! Gone were the days of the great endorsements. You know:

"I play rock , punk, funk, jazz, fusion, prog, classical, country, punk-funk, jazz-rock, blues, Pink Floyd, shoegazer, country-rock, funk-punk, classical-jazz, I've been playing for four months and this Squier guitar is the the most fully professional one on the market! The neck is absolutely perfect for everything anyone could ever  play!"

But it may be that the great product reviews have just become more (compart)mental(ized), like here's the Squier Jaguar from the Fender site:

This guy plays Semi-Professional Blues Funk Alternative Rock Classic Rock Heavy Metal Punk

This guitar sounds beyond amazing. The pickups alone are outstanding. The body has got a great feel, good hardware, and a great finish. The neck and tuners are pretty awesome too. I've been playing for a long time, and I have ever played a better Squier guitar. It feels just as good as my '78 mustang, which seems crazy to say, because I paid 3 times as much for the mustang.

Dig deep...

 

[Jusatele]

Mully, I loveall 3 ofmy Warmoth builds, all are thought out and exactly what I wanted in every way
I also love my 2 fender AM strats, my fender CS tele, my Mollenhauer ES335, my washburn Bass and flat top.
I often wonder what the next one will be, but I know what is quality and it will be that.
my main ax is my BarnDoorTele I made, love it to death, but when ever I need pure early tele sound, nothing is as nice as my Custom Shop in both feel and sound.
take it as you please, but Yes Fender and others can make a damn nice product,

 

[Corey P.]

god old Danelectros sucked. I mean, if you closed your eyes and listened to this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrvfMSYNqBg

You might think it was buzzy, noisy, really out of tune, self-indulgent etc. - but it was Jimmy Page teaching us that that was the way rock should be.

Amen.

Though you've got me wondering why there haven't been any coffee table wood builds of some of the more famous Danelectro models - I know Jerry Jones Guitars made a lot of presumably high quality versions for famous people, but the bodies are still made of Masonite so far as I know...